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Tips for plate presentation – Let the main player stand out. Here I have used a slice of eggplant to enhance the dish. Try to get some verticality in your dish. Everything just laid on the plate is boring. Rather stack or place them on an accompaniment. Anything that gets some differing heights to your dish will make it more visually appealing.

An (aubergine/ baingan) is not a very popular vegetable. People love to hate the ‘eggplant’ because of its texture. Some find it ‘bitter’ to taste. When treated right, it’s creamy and earthy—a standout star in your dining table. It’s time to bring this purple wonder back into the spotlight! It’s time to treat it right!

I like the aroma of burnt and charred aubergines or even smoke it with oil in the oven. I love the way it looks after it is prepared. The best way to choose the brinjals is, light in weight but big in size that means the lesser the seeds the lighter the brinjal weighs.

Different versions of this popular baigan bharta are made in several states in India. A perfect dish to go along with hot rotis naans or parathas.

Baingan Bharta/ eggplant curry

Serves 3-4

Prep time: 20 minutes

Cooking time: 20 minutes

Ingredients

Aubergines – (2 medium sized) 500 gms

Oil – 1 tbsp

Asafoetida – pinch

Cumin seeds – 1/2 tsp

Garlic, crushed, finely chopped – 3 cloves

Finely grated ginger – 1 tsp

Medium onions, finely chopped – 2 nos

Tomatoes, finely chopped- 2 nos

Green chillies, split lengthwise- 2 nos

Turmeric – 1/2 tsp

Coriander powder 1/2 tbsp

Cumin powder -1/2 tsp

Garam masala powder 1/2 tsp

Salt to taste

Method.

Make few slits on the eggplant. Immerse few pieces of garlic and green chilly into the egg plant with some salt. Apply some oil on the eggplant and cook it full in the oven. Applying the oil you will get a smoky flavour in the dish.

Remove the eggplants onto a plate and keep aside. In 5 minutes, the eggplant will be cool enough to handle, and you can peel off the skins.

Chop all the flesh, discard the stems and keep aside.

In a heavy bottomed Pan, heat the oil. Add the asafoetida, cumin seeds.

Once cumin seeds splutter, add the ginger and garlic and saute for few seconds.

Add the finely chopped onions, toss well.

Cover and cook until onions are soft, around 5-10 minutes.

Add dry spices, cook for few minutes and the tomatoes with the salt.

cover and cook until tomatoes are completely soft and mushy. Stir the dish.

To the mix, add the mashed eggplant flesh, around 1/2 cup water and bring to a simmer. Sprinkle garam masala powder and simmer for 2 minutes.

Thank you shilpa. Yes make few slit’s on the eggplant, and deeply immerse the garlic and chilly in to the slit’s. Yes we can has tandoor or can go direct in to the flame. I prefer in gas tandoori or in an oven with some applied oil on top( which gives an extra smoky flavour to the baingan)

Hi wendy when you grill your sliced aubergunes for the presentation, after grilling soak it in coriander basil, olive oil with sea salt and pepper powder. It will taste even better and looks good with a glaze.

Wonderful presentation! Like you, I also love the aroma of burnt/charred eggplants. It has a typical smell that becomes very satisfying to me when mixed with onions, green chillies and mustard oil. (We, Bengalis use mustard oil with most of the dishes). I make the bharta exactly in the same way. I just don’t use the garam masala…. 🙂

Thank you Maniparna for sharing your wonderful thoughts. Love that smoked flavor in baingan bharta. Some use curd as well to finish it off. Using mustard oil could be more tasty, thank you for this share.

This is so awesome, Sumith! I love baingan bharta, so I am very happy to have your recipe! But I really love your ideas for presenting and photographing it. This colour and texture is very difficult to photograph in an appealing way, so I am very thankful for this post! 🙂